Thursday, April 3, 2008

Rinse frozen veggies under running cold water to separate; drain and set aside. Sauté onions in butter in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat until tender. Whisk in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly. Stir in broth and milk. Heat to boiling, over medium heat, stirring often, and let boil and stir for one minute. Remove from heat and stir in chicken and vegetables. Let cool. Enough for 1 pie, or 6-7 mini pies.

Preheat oven to 425°. Blend flour, shortening, sugar, and salt with a pastry blender until crumbly. In a separate bowl, beat the water, egg, and vinegar with a fork. Pour liquid mixture slowly into the flour mixture while blending with a fork. Be sure to use flour when rolling out the dough. Line your pie plate with pastry then fill with chicken filling. Top the pie with pastry and flute edges. Make slits in top crust and wrap edges of pie with foil. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. (Remove foil 10 minutes before done.) Let stand a few minutes before serving.

Recipe from Shanna Stakkeland

These pot pies are so good with the pastry crust recipe listed above and they also freeze really well (wrap whole or individual pies in saran wrap and then place in freezer bag). However, because making the pastry is pretty time-consuming, I usually use a shortcut (an idea I got from Sunset magazine). Instead of making the pastry, I buy the canned refrigerated biscuits (the large or grand ones). Then after I fill each pie tin with the chicken mixture, I place one or two biscuits on top and it's done. Then I cover the entire pie with foil and bake it at 425 for 30-40 minutes, usually removing the foil for the last few minutes. It's a good time saver. Here's a picture of a mini pie.